McKinley High to debut local video on HIV/AIDS

A locally produced video on HIV/AIDS aimed at reaching Hawaii's youth will have its premiere at 5 p.m. Thursday at McKinley High School's Hirata Hall. The public is invited to attend.

The video will be used in classrooms to teach about HIV and AIDS.

Julienne Nakano, HIV state resource teacher and executive producer of the video, said in a news release that it's hoped the video will show Hawaii students that HIV/AIDS is here, as well as on the mainland, and "affects everyone who participates in risk behaviors."

Two residents living with HIV are featured in the video, as well as interviews with the Life Foundation and other organizations providing HIV education and services.

"I don't think there's a single high school from this island that we haven't had clients from," Paul Groesbeck, executive director of the Life Foundation, which has served HIV-positive clients since 1983, said in the release.

Jaimie Kahale, prevention educator at Life Foundation, worked with Nakano to produce the video and is one of the HIV-positive people featured.

She said it's important that students hear firsthand from someone living with HIV. "A lot of times they realize that it can be anybody, and it makes it real for them," she said.

The state Education Department spearheaded the production of the video along with the Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii, Life Foundation, Healthy Hawaii Initiative and the state Health Department.